Latest Sermons

Rev. Matthew Miller FROM THE PROPHETS Isaiah 60:1-6 Click here to watch the sermon " Shine" Over the past week, our family along with a good number of people around the world watched the conclusion of the fantasy series Stranger Things on Netflix. Set as it was during my formative years in the 1980’s, I had a particular fondness for this show. Especially the way in which the Duffer brothers, who created it, incorporated all kinds of references and visuals from classic 80’s mo

Rev. Matthew Miller FROM THE GOSPELS Matthew 1:18-25 Click here to watch the sermon "With." One of the drawbacks to the way we read scripture in worship   is that we generally only read a few verses.  If you want to get fancy,  scholars will refer to this as a pericope.  It’s a Greek word that literally means “cut around.” It’s getting to be grapefruit season.  We have that special knife with the bent serrated blade that allows you to cut around and section a grapefruit.  Tha

Rev. Matthew Miller FROM THE GOSPELS Matthew 24:36-44 click here to watch the sermon "Wakey ,wakey" Every year in late September or early October, the Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska sponsors what it calls Fat Bear Week. It’s a tournament that allows folks to vote online for their favorite fat bear. Some of the largest brown bears in the world (otherwise known as Gizzlies), make their home near the Brooks River in the park. And each fall they camp out along the ba

Rev. Essie Koenig-Reinke Luke 1:68-79 Click here to watch the sermon "Guide Our Feet" When I was living and working in Northern Ireland, one of my jobs was at a Christian youth center. And during the day while the younger ones were still in school. We spent our time trying to win over the young adults. Many of whom had become disillusioned. Rather than trying to build peace, they joined in the streets rioting and causing chaos. They would come in and show us video clips of th

Rev. Matthew Miller FROM THE LETTERS 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 Click here to watch the sermon " Idle" Stanley Hauerwas, the Duke Divinity School emeritus professor of divinity and law, wrote a book over 30 years ago titled "Unleashing Scripture.” In it he made what became a controversial statement, saying that there is no task more important for the church than to take the bible out of the hands of individual Christians in North America. Hauerwas identified a problem that a fri

Rev. Matthew Miller FROM THE LETTERS 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17 Click here to watch the sermon "Purpose" Several years ago, before we moved to New Mexico, I was attending a conference where I met a fellow colleague from Iowa. We lived on either end of the state but we had both seen an event advertised at our local YMCA. The relay across Iowa. Now, this was not the more popular, and better known event called RAGBRAI, which stands for the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Race

Rev. Matthew Miller FROM THE PROPHETS Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4 Click here to watch the sermon "Vision" I tuned in briefly this week to one of the World Series games and noticed that there was a player on the Toronto Blue Jays named Bo Bichette. My ears perked up. Bichette? I got curious, because one of the star players on the Colorado Rockies baseball team back in the 90’s was Dante Bichette. So, I did what I so often do when my curiosity gets the better of me. I asked Google.